LOWER VITAMIN D HIGHER RISK OF HEART ATTACK SUGGESTS A MEDICAL REPORT

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Now it is Vitamin D and the risk of heart attack .It seems like Vitamin D has arrived in the medical spot light. Recently I wrote in Purple Medical Blog that the Canadian Cancer Society has recommended that many people take Vitamin D and I also scoped out a report that said that women with breast cancer who had low levels of Vitamin D did less well prognosis wise. Now fanning the flames of Vitamin D popularity is a study that says “Low levels of 25(OH)D (Vitamin D) are associated with higher risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack) in a graded manner, even after controlling for factors known to be associated with coronary artery disease” (heart problems related to the coronary arteries that supply the heart muscle itself with blood).

In the report about Vitamin D and the heart they say “Vitamin D deficiency may be involved in the development of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease in humans”.The scientists examined the blood levels of Vitamin D in thousands of men between the ages of 40 and 75. “We assessed prospectively whether (blood) plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) ,(Vitamin D) concentrations are associated with risk of coronary heart disease“.

Very few foods in nature contain vitamin D. The flesh of fish (such as salmon, tuna, and mackerel) and fish liver oils are among the best sources. Blood serum concentration of 25(OH)D is the best indicator of Vitamin D status. It reflects vitamin D produced in the skin and that obtained from food and supplements and has a fairly long circulating half-life of 15 days. “A nested case-control study was conducted in 18 225 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study; the men were aged 40 to 75 years and were free of diagnosed cardiovascular disease at blood collection. Low levels of 25(OH)D are associated with higher risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack)in a graded manner, even after controlling for factors (that is making adjustments to the calculations for other things that could cause coronary heart problems) known to be associated with coronary artery disease”.

Click Purple Medical Could Vitamin D Level Be Associated With Breast Cancer Prognosis

Click Purple Medical Canadian Cancer Society Recommends Many Take Vitamin D

25-Hydroxyvitamin D and Risk of Myocardial Infarction in Men

Purple Medical Blog

BLOOD PRESSURE PILL ACE INHIBITOR FOR DIABETICS EVEN WITH NORMAL BLOOD PRESSURE

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ACE Inhibitors are one class of blood pressure pills

Should all people with diabetes take a blood pressure pill ACE inhibitor? Blood pressure pills with names like lisinopril, captopril,etc are used to treat other things beside blood pressure. ACE Inhibitors are known to reduce kidney problems in diabetics.There are two main types of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is more common and tends to occur in older adults(but can happen in kids too). The problem in Type 2 diabetes is frequently “insulin resistance“. Your pancreas may produce insulin but your body does not respond properly (resists) to the insulin. In Type 2 diabetes, the body has trouble using insulin, even if it is available.

Your brain needs a constant supply of blood glucose(sugar). Not enough glucose to the brain and you faint. Too much glucose circulating in the blood and you feel sick. The job of regulating blood glucose depends on a Yin and Yang relationship of two hormones. Insulin drives sugar from the blood into the cells of the body. Glucagon helps to increase sugar in the blood.

Symptoms of diabetes can include:

increased thirst or hunger

fatigue and weight loss

increased urination, especially at night

blurred vision

sores that do not heal

Kidney Problems are a Complication of Diabetes

Among the complications of diabetes is kidney trouble a.k.a diabetic nephropathy. Many diabetic people have high blood pressure. So doctors often prescribe a blood pressure pill. Ace inhibitors are a class of blood pressure pills with names like lisonopril, captopril, enalapril, benzapril,etc. Ace inhibitors treat many things besides blood pressure,migraines,for example. ACE inhibitors block the enzyme ACE in the body from producing angiotensin II, a chemical that does things like narrow blood vessels and cause sodium retention.

“We know that ACE inhibitors slow the progression of diabetic kidney trouble (diabetic nephropathy). So they’re indicated for that, they’re indicated for hypertension why not just put all diabetics on them?” In other words doctors wonder should all people with diabetes be on an ace inhibitor blood pressure pill to protect their kidney even if they don’t have a diagnosis of high blood pressure.

Read this article suggesting that perhaps most people with diabetes would benefit from certain cholesterol lowering medication

A Medical Journal Report About ACE Inhibitors even in Diabetics Without Known Hypertension

In this article in the medical journal The Lancet, researchers report about putting patients even without a diagnosis of high blood pressure on a fixed dose combination of ACE inhibitor and diuretic.The results were that diabetics who were on ace inhibitors and a diuretic (water pill) did better. “We assessed the effects of the routine administration of an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor-diuretic combination on serious vascular events in patients with diabetes, irrespective of initial blood pressure levels or the use of other blood pressure lowering drugs”.

The findings:

“The relative risk of death from cardiovascular disease was reduced by 18%… and death from any cause was reduced by 14%. Although the confidence limits were wide, the results suggest that over 5 years, one death due to any cause would be averted among every 79 patients assigned active therapy”.

Effects of a fixed combination of perindopril and indapamide on macrovascular and microvascular outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (the ADVANCE trial): a randomised controlled trial

Simplifying Management of Type 2 Diabetes

Purple Medical Blog

LESS FAT SMALLER CUTS CERTAIN MARINADES MAY HELP WHAT CAN YOU DO GRILLING BURGERS AND BARBECUE MEAT TO REDUCE CANCER CAUSING CHEMICALS

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Outdoor barbecue and grilling is fun and no one would tell you to stop grilling, it tastes great! But there are steps you can take to decrease the chance of cancer causing chemicals produced from cooking over flame and grilling. When you grill meat the high heat produces possibly cancer causing chemicals and also some of the fat drips down on to the charcoal and when fat meets that really high temperature it develops a carcinogen and the smoke carries the carcinogen back up to the meat. That smoke contains potentially dangerous cancer causing chemicals.

How can something that tastes so good be so bad? Grilling meat can produce carcinogenic (cancer causing) chemicals. There are two risk factors associated with grilling and cooking over flames. 1.The high heat of grilling reacts with proteins in red meat, poultry, and fish to create heterocyclic amines (HCAs). Studies have linked these chemicals to cancer. 2.Another form of cancer-causing agents, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are found in the smoke produced from grilling and flame cooking. They form when fat and juices from meat products drip on to the heat source. As the smoke rises, it can stick to the surface of the meat.

Which of the following variables determine how many carcinogens (cancer causing chemicals) are formed when you grill or barbecue meat?

1.cooking method 2. duration of cooking 3. temperature 4. type of food

When you grill a steak and a potato which is more likely to produce carcinogens?
A steak or a potato

The Dana Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard and Purdue University have published some suggestions that might help lower the risk from flame cooking and summer grilling.

Prep the meat. Choose lean cuts of meat instead of high-fat varieties, such as ribs and sausage. Trim all excess fat and remove the skin. When using marinades, thinner is better. Thicker marinades have a tendency to char, possibly increasing exposure to carcinogenic compounds. Look for certain marinades that contain vinegar and/or lemon. They actually create a protective barrier around the meat. According to the tips from Purdue “Marinate meats in marinade that contains anti-oxidants (vinegar, citrus juice, herbs, spices and olive oil) as research suggests that this may help inhibit the formation of carcinogens on grilled meat”.

Limit time, limit exposure. Partially cook meat and fish in a microwave for 60 to 90 seconds on high before grilling and then discard juices. This will limit the time they need to cook and reduce risk of smoke flare-ups.

Grilling techniques. Flip burgers often, at least once every minute. Place food at least six inches away from the heat source. Create a barrier to prevent juices from spilling and producing harmful smoke, such as lining the grill with aluminum foil that has holes poked in it or cooking on cedar planks.

Choose meats that are lean, smaller cuts and less fat.Lean meats create less dripping and less smoke. Trim excess fat, and remove skin from poultry. Choose smaller cuts, like kabobs; they take less time to cook. Try grilling your favorite vegetables.

Choose lean cuts of meat to grill, instead of high-fat varieties such as ribs or sausages. Trim fats from meats when possible and remove skin from poultry. Use tongs or a spatula to turn foods instead of a fork. Piercing meat with a fork allows fats and juices to drip down onto the hot coals which causes flame-ups. Removed charred areas from meat before eating.

In January, 2005, The National Institute of Health, officially added heterocyclic amines, chemicals created during the grilling of meat to it’s hit list of cancer causing agents. Heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are chemicals that are formed during the grilling and frying and barbecuing of certain so called “muscle meats” such as beef, pork, poultry and fish .Muscles have a lot of protein and the building blocks of proteins are called amino acids. When amino acids are exposed to the cooking processes of grilling, barbecuing and frying, heterocyclic amines also called amino-imidazoazaarenes (AIAs) are created.

Meat Quality and Safety from Purdue University

Dana-Farber offers tips to reduce your cancer risk while grilling

Cancer Proof Your Barbecue from USA Weekend Magazine.

See the NIH HHS news release with the cheery title

“List of Cancer-Causing Agents Grows“. “The Report on Carcinogens, Eleventh Edition, referred to as the “RoC,” lists cancer-causing agents in two categories — “known to be human carcinogens” and “reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens.” The report now contains 58 “known” and 188 “reasonably anticipated” listings. Federal law requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to publish the report every two years.”

According to the NIH article, “Research has shown that cooking certain meats at high temperatures creates chemicals that are not present in uncooked meats. A few of these chemicals may increase cancer risk. For example, heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are the carcinogenic chemicals formed from the cooking of muscle meats such as beef, pork, fowl, and fish. HCAs form when amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) and creatine (a chemical found in muscles) react at high cooking temperatures.”

Four Factors in Production of Carcinogenic Heterocyclic Amines

The NIH article goes on to say that “MeIQ, MeIQx, and PhIP are heterocyclic amine compounds formed when meats and eggs are cooked or grilled at high temperatures. These compounds are also found in cigarette smoke. They are listed in the report as “reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens” because oral studies in animals showed they caused cancer in multiple organs including the forestomach, colon, liver, oral cavity, mammary gland, skin, and cecum. Several human studies suggest there is an increased risk for breast and colorectal cancers related to consumption of broiled or fried foods that may contain these or other similar compounds….

MeIQ is 2-Amino-3, 4-dimethylimidazo [4,5-f]quinoline
MeIQx is 2-Amino-3, 8-dimethylimidazo [4,5-f]quinoxaline
PhIP is 2-Amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo [4,5-b]pyridine

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocabons are substances that enter meat through smoke that’s created when fat drips onto hot coals or stones. The hetrocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are known to be mutagenic, i.e. they produce changes in DNA.According to this article from the National Cancer Institute

National Cancer Institute Heterocyclic Amines in Cooked Meats “research has shown that cooking certain meats at high temperatures creates chemicals that are not present in uncooked meats. A few of these chemicals may increase cancer risk“. The article goes on to say that “four factors influence HCA formation” :

type of food

cooking method

temperature

time

Purple Medical Blog

A MODERN DAY GENIUS DOCTOR INSPIRES WITH LIFE TRANSFORMING SURGERY ON CHILDRENS HEMANGIOMAS MILTON WANER IS HE THE PAUL EHRLICH OF HEMANGIOMAS

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BIRTHMARKS HEMANGIOMAS ARE BLOOD VESSELS THAT CAN APPEAR AND DISFIGURE BUT WANER HAS THEIR NUMBER

Dr. Milton Waner is a genius. What he has done for children with hemangiomas, in my opinion, puts him in the rarified company of the geniuses of medical history. Many a fledgling doctor was set upon his career path by reading books and watching movies about geniuses in the history of medicine like Ehrlich, Koch and Pasteur. I could envisage young students viewing Waner’s work with hemangiomas and being inspired to pursue a career in medicine. See for yourself. What Milton Waner does is a true inspiration. From around the world, parents bring their children with severe disfiguring hemangiomas on the face. Hemangiomas are collections of blood vessels that can appear on the face or skin or internally. The extent of disfigurement caused by a hemangioma can have such a great impact on a child that normal social development can be altered. Let’s face it other children and even some adults can be cruel! In some cases other doctors have said nothing could be done. Yet using his surgical skills Waner has transformed the lives of these children.

I have written about this doctor before but I continue to be awed by his achievements. A new story of how he has used his genius to transform the life of another child with a formerly disfiguring hemangioma has appeared in the news. Cody Hall was born with a hemangioma on her face. “When she was 1-year-old, her doctors in England told her parents that nothing could be done about her hemagioma condition, so her parents took her to see surgeons in the U.S. Fourteen years and 18 reconstructive surgeries later, most of them at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York, the girl who once had a hopelessly deformed face was flashing a beautiful smile at the prom”.

“”Cody came to me several years back after she had undergone an initial procedure in San Francisco,” Hall’s surgeon, Milton Waner, told FOXNews.com. “She had some really bad problems at the time. It was a very difficult situation. She had excessive scarring from an aggressive hemangioma.” Most of her 18 surgeries have been performed at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York”.”

Click Here to See Pictures of Cody and Her hemangioma What Dr. Waner Has Done For Cody

Many children are born with “birthmarks” on their face. As time passes the birthmarks often disappear. Not infrequently however, the birthmarks, hemangiomas on the face, don’t disappear and grow larger, creating “deformities” even covering half the face and drooping down. Sometimes scorned by other children and even adults,the word “birthmark”, does not begin to convey the drama that these phenomena introduce into the lives of the little children who have them and the parents who love them.

Waner Does Surgery: The Life and Death of a Hemangioma
Click on this Video: True Story of a Hemangioma

Doc Shares Birthmark Basics

As parents have struggled to find help for their children they have encountered not enough information, misinformation, discouragement and finally in some cases this surgeon, Dr. Waner who has mounted a personal crusade against these deformities and pioneered a way to give them back the lovely children that they always saw. Waner was trained in South Africa. He developed his own ideas about how to treat hemangiomas. Previously at Children’s Hospital in Arkansas now in New York City.

Taking Care of Birthmarks

Milton Waner, MD
Co-Director Vascular Birthmarks Institute of New York, Beth Israel Medical Center and St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center

Purple Medical Blog

WHICH FOODS HAVE GOOD FATS WHICH HAVE BAD FATS AND FOODS THAT CONTAIN TRANS FATS AND SATURATED FATS THAT ARE BAD FOR THE HEART

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“Among the more healthful fat options are using vegetables oils (some are better than others) and tub margarine in place of butter and switching to nonfat or low-fat dairy products. Avocados, fish, nuts (almonds) and seeds are other good sources of better fats“. Among the foods with bad fats are whole-milk dairy products and butter, and french fries, fried chicken and other deep-fat-fried foods, especially those prepared at restaurants and fast-food establishments”.

I and the American Heart Association as well as doctors and nutritionists have repeatedly expounded on the importance of watching what kind of fats you eat. You need to be aware of which are good fats and which are bad fats. Why watch the fats you eat? Because some fats, the bad fats such as trans fats and saturated fats increase heart disease and chances of a heart attack while other fats protect your heart. You can’t rely on restaurants and food manufacturers to use only good fats in their products (Sorry Dorothy you’re not in Kansas anymore)because sometimes visions of profits “cloud” their decision making.

Although some restaurant chains are now making a real effort to get rid of “bad” fats such as trans fats. Trans fats lead to higher bad LDL cholesterol which is associated with increased chances of a heart attack. McDonald’s, for example, has made it policy to eliminate trans fats. Trans fats are a kind of fat which though they can occur naturally are more often a problem because they are produced as a result of frying or cooking.

I am amazed to discover when I read food labels on certain cookies that they still contain trans fat even now after all the bad publicity about how trans fats lead to higher bad cholesterol! The Food and Drug Administration allows companies to list zero trans fat on product labels if the food contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. If the label lists partially hydrogenated oil, then there’s probably some trans fat present“.

Sally Squires in her excellent column in the Washington Post writes that “Fewer than half of Americans know that consuming “better” fats can help reduce their risk of heart disease. These better fats include delicious olive oil, rich in what chemists dub mono-unsaturated fat. Soybean oil,a polyunsaturated fat, is also heart-healthy. Both earn the distinction of being “better,” because they help lower blood levels of the most dangerous cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL). The higher LDL rises, the more likely your risk of suffering a heart attack, thus the more apt your doctor is to prescribe a cholesterol-lowering statin drug (in addition to having you make diet and exercise changes)”.

“To help clear up the fat confusion, the American Heart Association has just unveiled the Better Fats Sisters, part of a national public health campaign called Face the Fats. The Sisters arrive a year after the Heart Association introduced the Bad Fat Brothers — Trans and Sat — to urge cutting down on artery-clogging trans fat and saturated fat. Among the foods with bad fats are whole-milk dairy products and butter, and french fries, fried chicken and other deep-fat-fried foods, especially those prepared at restaurants and fast-food establishments”.

“Among the more healthful fat options are using vegetables oils (some are better than others) and tub margarine in place of butter and switching to nonfat or low-fat dairy products. Avocados, fish, nuts (almonds) and seeds are other good sources of better fats“. On average, American adults consume approximately 2.2 percent of total calories from trans fat(i.e bad fat) a day at least double the amount advised, according to the AHA. In processed foods, trans fat is now being replaced by coconut, palm and other saturated fats. The shift means that Americans are now sometimes swapping one bad fat for another and eating four to five times as much saturated fat per day as recommended, according to the AHA”.

Click for Cholesterol the Good,the Bad and the Ugly

It’s Smart to Know The Skinny About Fat

Purple Medical Blog

WHEN IT COMES TO DOCTORS WHO TREAT THEMSELVES OR THEIR FAMILY A SECOND OPINION IS JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED

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They say a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client. Well, how about a doctor who treats himself? In her blog, a physician who writes the blog Fat Doctor tells the story of how she told her husband to see a dermatologist after he expressed some reservations about her first diagnosis of a skin problem he had. And it’s a good thing she did and he did!

“In my career, I’ve had several patients whose physician parent has treated them for whatever minor ailment (sprained ankle, small abscess, otitis media, whatever…) and the patient did not get better.

They come to me and without fail say, “My mom/dad told me to go see a real doctor.”
We physicians are taught that treating our family members is a bad idea. At the minimum, it’s hard to be objective. At worst, you could miss all the signs of a deadly condition.

Case in point: Husband had a sore throat. At his request, I looked at it and told him it didn’t look streppy. Every day we repeated this. For a week or so. Finally, I said, “Go see a real doctor.” And he did. Rapid strep turned positivein about 10 seconds.

Second case in point: Husband showed me a skin thing. It’s nothing, I told him. A few months later he showed me the same skin thing. It’s nothing, I told him. He clearly didn’t believe me, so I said, “Go see a real doctor.” And he did. Basal cell carcinoma. One wide-excision later, he is cancer free“.

Freaking Weird

Purple Medical Blog

BOTOX VERSUS INJECTABLE DERMAL FILLERS FOR WRINKLE TREATMENT AND A VIDEO THAT EXPLAINS DERMAL FILLER

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Botox and Dermal Fillers are Both Used for Wrinkles

Besides Botox for wrinkles dermatologists and plastic surgeons use injections of dermal fillers to fill in the skin and smooth wrinkles and facial lines.Botox is a substance that effectively blocks nerve impulse to muscles in the face that cause wrinkles. Dermal fillers fill in the wrinkled area and make it appear smoother. Injecting dermal fillers with names like ArteFill, Restylane, Radiesse and Juvederm has become an increasingly popular form of wrinkle treatment in addition to Botox injections. Although the idea of wrinkle fillers and Botox sounds appealing it is still a medical procedure. You should investigate the possible side effects of the dermal fillers and Botox and understand the procedure. Any medical procedure needs to be done by a qualified physician. In the case of wrinkle treatment, doctors such as dermatologists or plastic or cosmetic surgeons are likely to have the most expertise.

Click For A Detailed Explanation With Videos About Botox How It Works and Side Effects

There are a number of dermal fillers for wrinkle treatment and facial lines on the market. They are based on natural materials like collagen which form part of the skin. Some of the dermal fillers are absorbable and temporary and some are non absorbable and are designed to be more permanent. Injectable wrinkle fillers have names like ArteFill, Restylane, Radiesse and Juvederm.,br>

Watch This Video Introduction to Dermal Fillers for Wrinkle Treatment Click the Arrow to Start

Purple Medical Blog

VISION LOSS AND PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICES FOR VISION LOSS THAT WORK BETTER THAN MAGNIFYING GLASS

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For people with vision loss especially the most common vision loss called macular degeneration everyday tasks that require reading become challenging. You can buy magnifying glasses and use large print text to help you read when you have visison loss due to macular degeneration. However, magnifying glasses help with macular degeneration only up to a point. There are large electronic magnifying machines available but they are not portable. Now portable electronic magnifiers for people with macular deneration which you can carry around like a magnifying glass but which are even more powerful and useful are being sold.

“Dr. Bruce P. Rosenthal, chief of low-vision programs at Lighthouse International in Manhattan, which offers services for people with vision loss, said the portable magnifiers, with their built-in illumination and powerful electronics, have many advantages over traditional optical devices like magnifying glasses. “Optical devices can’t increase the contrast like these devices,” he said. “Loss in contrast causes as many problems as loss of visual acuity.””

“One new portable device is the Quicklook Focus (5), which weights 8.8 ounces. It has a camera head that sends digital video to the display, where the image is magnified, said Fergal Brennan, a design engineer at Ash Technologies outside of Dublin, the manufacturer. Users can pass the camera over a document they want to read, or hold it up at arm’s length to read the print on more distant objects”.

“The Quicklook Focus should be available by mid-June, said James McCarthy, president of Freedom Vision, the Mountain View, Calif.-based distributor for Ash in North America (www.freedomvision.net). Another new device, the SenseView Duo (,299), available at the end of this month, has two cameras — one for close-up reading of text, the other for viewing objects eight feet or farther away, like classroom blackboards, said Doug Geoffray, co-owner of GW Micro, the Fort Wayne, Ind.-based distributor of the devices in North America (www.gwmicro.com). The product is made by the HIMS Company of South Korea”.

Purple Medical Two Types of Macular Degeneration Most Common Cause Vision Loss

The Magnifying Glass Gets an Electronic Twist

Purple Medical Blog

DRUG ERRORS DRUG MISTAKES WAYS TO DECREASE MISTAKES AND A WEB SITE WITH PICTURES OF MEDICATION PILLS AND DRUG INTERACTIONS

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Many times when a doctor asks a new patient what medications they are using, the new patient will say “I don’t know the name but there is a red pill and a green pill” or something along those lines. Considering the medication goes into your body, knowing exactly the how what and why of your medications is crucial. Drug safety and medication safety is an important problem especially if it is your medication! Unfortunately prescription errors are not rare.

Doctors are human and like all humans mistakes can be made. Ditto for pharmacists. Never assume anything. Make sure that you and your doctor understand each other. Make sure you understand medications instructions. Don’t be shy your life could depend on it. Make sure the doctor writes clearly. Question the pharmacist as to the drugs you are taking.Verify color, dosage, shape and size of pills and liquids.

People sometimes seem to know more about how their car works then how the medication and drugs they take work. Since medications you take work in your body it behooves you to spend some time to understand exactly what the drug you take is for, what it is supposed to do, how often and. possible drug and food interactions.

Click Read About Grapefruit and Drug Interactions

Some tips to increase medication safety include:

Know your drug and food allergies

Be informed

Realize that over the counter drugs are still drugs and can be as dangerous as prescriptions

Communicate with your doctor, your pharmacist, your family

Check your medicine

Use your medicine correctly

Be aware

Keep good records

Express scripts has a web site with information about drug interactions, pictures of medication pills and more.

Seven Steps to Medication Safety

Purple Medical Blog

WHY STEM CELLS WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE HOW DO STEM CELLS KNOW WHAT TO BECOME

Stem cells maintain a built in variability that nature can harness for change under the right conditions

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Stem cell breakthrough! Stem cell controversy! Stem cells are cells that can turn into any cell in the body. You may be surprised to hear that stem cells have been used to replace tissue in the body for many years. Bone marrow stem cells are used to treat leukemia,for example. The problem is that the bone marrow cells pretty much form only blood tissues. Why are stem cells so important and the potential to cure disease so great? Some people swear by stem cells others swear at them. But what are stem cells? Why are they so important and controversial? Are there different types of stem cells? And what kinds of things are researchers hoping to learn about by doing “stem cell research”? If we understood how stem cells are guided to become part of the brain, the eye, the arm then perhaps we would be able to “tell the stem cells” what to become and so create or replace damage.

But “how does a stem cell decide what specialized identity to adopt or simply to remain a stem cell? That’s the 64 million dollar question! A new study suggests that the conventional view, which assumes that cells are “instructed” to progress along prescribed signaling pathways, is too simplistic. Instead, it supports the idea that cells differentiate through the collective behavior of multiple genes in a network that ultimately leads to just a few endpoints–just as a marble on a hilltop can travel a nearly infinite number of downward paths, only to arrive in the same valley”".

The findings, published in the May 22, 2008 issue of Nature, give a glimpse into how that collective behavior works, and show that stem cell populations maintain a built-in variability that nature can harness for change under the right conditions. The findings also help explain why the process of differentiating stem cells into specific lineages in the laboratory has been highly inefficient”.

What are Stem Cells Why Stem cells Will Change Your Life

Many Paths Few Destinations How Stem Cells Decide What They’ll Be

Purple Medical Blog